7.  The applicants, forty-five Russian military pensioners whose names along with other relevant information are listed below (Annex), live in Estonia.
8.  On 26 July 1994, at the same time as the conclusion of a treaty on the withdrawal of Russian troops from Estonian territory, Estonia and the Russian Federation signed an agreement concerning the provision of social security guarantees to the retired military personnel of the armed forces of the Russian Federation on the territory of Estonia (“the Agreement”). The Agreement provided that retired military personnel, that is − persons discharged from army service and receiving pensions, could apply for residence permits in Estonia. The Russian Federation undertook the securing of the payment of pensions to the persons concerned according to Russian legislation. Furthermore, it was stipulated that the retired military personnel could also apply for an Estonian pension, in which case the payment of their Russian pension would be suspended while they were receiving an Estonian pension, and vice versa.
9.  Until 1998 the Russian military pension was, in most cases, considerably higher than the Estonian old-age pension. Then, after the change in the economic situation and amendment of the pension law, the Russian military retirees faced the situation where they could choose to receive either a Russian military pension (smaller than the average old-age pension in Estonia) or an Estonian old-age pension for fewer years of service. In the latter case, only the years of pensionable employment in the civil sphere – and not the years of service in the Russian (Soviet) armed forces – were taken into account. According to the applicants, in both cases the sums were rather small and not enough for survival in Estonia.
10.  From January 2006 many military retirees, including the applicants, who had worked in Estonia in the civil sphere and fulfilled the requirements (in particular, at least fifteen years of pensionable employment in Estonia) for receiving an Estonian old-age pension, applied for and were granted, such a pension for life. However, a few months later, after a regular exchange of information between the Estonian social insurance authorities and the Russian Embassy, the Estonian authorities realised that the Russian Embassy was continuing to pay the persons concerned Russian military pensions. The Estonian authorities then suspended the payment of the Estonian pension to the persons concerned and requested that they provide confirmation of the suspension of payment of the Russian military pension if they wished that the payment of the Estonian pension be resumed.
11.  According to the Government, who referred to information published in the Russian-speaking press, the average military pension paid by the Russian Federation in 2008 was, depending on the person's military rank, 7,400, 5,800 or 5,000 kroons (EEK) a month (corresponding to approximately 473, 371 or 320 euros (EUR), respectively). At the same time, the average old-age pension in Estonia was EEK 4,356 (EUR 278). Although the pensions paid by Estonia had increased since 1994, the Russian military pension was higher than the average Estonian old-age pension and definitely higher than the minimum pension established in Estonia (EEK 2,008.80 (EUR 128) in 2009) which they had been guaranteed under Article 3 of the Agreement.
According to the applicants, who relied on the information from the Russian Embassy in Tallinn, the average pension of a Russian military pensioner in Estonia in 2008 was EEK 3,817 (EUR 244) − which was much less than the average Estonian pension at the same time.
12.  The applicants challenged the decisions of the Estonian social security authorities to suspend the payment of the Estonian old-age pension (in the case of Mr V. Gladõšev – invalidity pension). Arguing that they had been discriminated against and that their property rights had been violated, they lodged complaints with the competent administrative courts against the individual decisions of the Estonian social security authorities. They requested that the courts order the social security authorities to resume payment of the pension. Their complaints were dismissed in separate administrative court proceedings by the administrative courts and courts of appeal. In the case of all of the applicants, with the exception of Mr V. Gladõšev, the Supreme Court dismissed the appeals as manifestly ill‑founded. Mr V. Gladõšev's appeal was refused by the Supreme Court because of his failure to pay the court fee of EEK 400 (EUR 26). The Supreme Court examined his request for exemption and rejected it by a reasoned decision.
13.  The reasoning underlying the individual decisions of the social security authorities as well as the complaints and judgments in respect of each of the applicants were similar and can be summarised as follows.
14.  The courts found that the clear and unequivocal wording of Article 5 of the Agreement provided that only one of the States (not both States simultaneously), should pay a pension to the military retirees. Simultaneous payment of the Russian military pension and the Estonian old-age pension was excluded because the State Pension Insurance Act (Riikliku pensionikindlustuse seadus) provided that if an international agreement entered into by the Republic of Estonia contained provisions which differed from the provisions of this Act for the grant or payment of pensions, the international agreement applied (section 4(3)). By way of comparison, the courts noted that the State Pension Insurance Act generally provided that persons who had the right to receive several state pensions were granted one state pension of their choice. The same applied to members of the Estonian Defence Forces even if they qualified for an old-age pension and defence forces pension simultaneously (section 196(5) of the Defence Forces Service Act (Kaitseväeteenistuse seadus)).
15.  The courts did not exclude the possibility that there were people living in Estonia who were receiving military pensions from a foreign country and, at the same time, a state pension from Estonia. Nevertheless, they found that the Russian military retirees had not been discriminated against, as their situation was not comparable to that of persons who had served in the armies of States which were members of the same international organisations as Estonia, such as NATO or the European Union. The courts pointed out that the relationship of Estonia with those countries had been established on a different basis.
16.  The courts dismissed the argument concerning an alleged violation of the applicants' legitimate expectation, noting that they could have no legitimate expectation of receiving two pensions simultaneously, as the Agreement provided that a person could not receive two pensions at the same time.
17.  The courts also rejected the applicants' allegation that their property rights had been violated, finding that, as they were continuing to receive their Russian military pension, the applicants did not meet the conditions required for receiving the Estonian pension and that therefore they had no property rights within the meaning of Article 32 of the Estonian Constitution or Article 1 of Protocol No. 1 to the Convention. The courts emphasised in this context that the applicants had the right to opt for an Estonian pension instead of the Russian one at any moment they wished.
18.  The courts found that the essence of the applicants' pension rights had not been undermined, as they had been guaranteed an income sufficient for subsistence. They noted that, according to Article 3 of the Agreement, the applicants received a pension at least equal in value to the amount of the minimum pension in Estonia.
19.  Finally, the courts noted that the States which were parties to the Agreement could amend the Agreement so that each of them undertook to pay pensions according to the pensionable years of work in the respective country. However, this was a matter of political will; the actual Agreement did not foresee such a possibility and there were no grounds for not applying the Agreement.